Automatic elevator-gate.



PATENTED JAN. 23, 1906.

.P. F. BLIM. AUTOMATIC ELEVATOR GATE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5,1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

/NVENTOR 7? WITNESSES ATTORNEYS No. 810,839. PATENTED JAN. 23, 1906. P. F. BLIM.

AUTOMATIC ELEVATOR GATE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5,1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PHILIP F. BLIM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC ELEVATOR-GATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 23, 1906.

Application filed June 5, 1905. Serial No- 263,706.

To n whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PHILIP F. BLIM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Elevator-Gates, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for opening and closing elevatorgates whereby the gates at the respective floors of a building are automatically raised and opened as the platform approaches them and are automatically lowered and closed as the platform recedes from them.

My invention pertains more especially, first, to the construction of the gate-actuating cam, which is carried by the platform and adapted to contact with the roller or the gateactuating mechanism located at the respective floors of the building, the shape of which cam is such as to more gradually overcome the inertia of the gate when opening the same, whereby the shock of contact is greatly reduced; second, to the flexible connection employed for communicating motion from the cam-actuating roller of the door-actuating mechanism tothe winding drum and pulley, through which the ropes from which the gates are suspended are wound up and unwound as the elevator approaches and ,recedes from the respective floor-landings of the building, whereby the rack-bar, gears, and pinions heretofore used for such purpose are entirely dispensed with third, to the means for counterbalancing the weight of the gates, whereby they are more easily raised and opened, and, fourth, to the means employed for equalizing the lateral strain upon the shaft of the cam-actuated roller, consisting in a counterweight and suspension-cord, whereby the twisting strain on said shaft is not only.

avoided, but a portion of the gravity of the gates is also counterbalanced and said operating mechanism is more easily moved.

The construction of my invention is explained by reference to the accompanying Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a front view, and Fig. 5 isa vertical section, of a safety attachment by, which the gate-operating rope is connected with the gate.

Like parts are identified by the same reference-figures throughout the several views.

The elevator-platform 1, suspension-frame 2, brace-rods 3, vertical guide-posts 3,,and

the several floors 5, through which the elevator shaft or passage-way is formed, are all of the ordinary construction.

It will be understood that the landings at each floor of the building are provided with one or more gates 6, which are slidably retained at their respective ends in vertical guideways 7, while they are suspended at their centers by a rope or other flexible connection 8, with which flexible connection they are connected with the operating-pulley 9. The ropes 8 are suspended and guided between the gates 6 and the operating-pulley 9 by a plurality of pulleys 1O 10. That the gates may be easily operated I have provided a counterweight 11, by which their gravity is nearly counterbalanced, the weight of the gate being only slightly in excess of the counterbalance, so that when the platform has passed and ceases to act upon the gates they will be caused to descend and close of their own ravity. The counterweight 11 is suspended. from the windingdrum 12 by a strap 13 or otherfiexible con nection, and the drum 12 is affixed to the side of the operating-pulley 9 or otherwise connected with said pulley upon the pulleysupporting shaft 12, whereby as the gate is lowered the weight-suspensionstrap 13 will be wound upon the drum 12 by the gravity of said gate and whereby when the gate is raised and opened the gravity of the weight 11, acting through said strap, rope, drum, and pulley, will aid in raising the gate.

Motion is communicated from the moving platform to the door-actuating drum and pulley as such platform approaches the landing from either direction through the twoway cam 14, cam-actuated roller 15, rollersupporting shaft 16, shaft-supporting bar 17, reciprocating bar'18, and strap 19. The rollers 15 are so located at the respective landings that as the platform approaches from either direction the cam 14 will be brought in contact therewith, and said roller, together with the u per end of the roller-supporting bar 17, wi 1 be thrown toward the right,

whereby the end of the strap 19, which isconnected with the shaft of the roller 15, will be thrown toward the right, and the drum 12, upon which the strap 19 is wound, will be revolved by the action of said strap as it is be ing unwound therefrom and whereby a rotary movement will be communicated from said drum to the pulley 9 and from thence to the gate 6 through the suspension-rope 8, whereby the gate may be raised. It will be understood that one end of said rope 8 is wound upon said operating-pulley 9 as the gate is raised and unwound therefrom as the gate is lowered. It will be understood that the rope 8 and strap 19 are respectively so wound upon said pulley and drum that as the strap is unwound from the drum by the action of the cam the rope 8 will be wound upon the pulley, and,vice versa, when the strap is wound upon the drum by the gravity of the gate the rope 8 will be unwound from the pulley. While the strap 19 may be connected directly with the shaft 16, I preferably attach the free end of the strap 19 to the side of the reciprocating bar 18 and connect the end of said bar to said shaft 16, whereby the free end of the bar 18 will rest upon the strap 19 and cause the same to be wound more smoothly upon the drum. The lower end of the vibrating bar 17 is connected with the floor of the building by a pivotal bolt 20. To equalize the strain upon the roller-supporting shaft 16 as it is being forced toward the right by contact of the actuating-cam 14, I preferably connect the opposite end of said shaft 16 with a counterweight 21 through a weight-suspension cord 22, which cord acts over a supporting-pulley 23. The object of the counterweight 21 is to not only prevent the twisting strain upon said shaft 16 which would be caused by contact of the cam with the roller 15, but also to cooperate with said cam by counterbalancing a portion of the weight of the gate, whereby the same may be more easily raised, while ropes or other flexible connections may be used for connecting the shaft 16 and the weight 11 with the drum 12, said ropes or flexible connections being each provided with separate grooves or bearing-surfaces upon said drum. I preferably employ two straps 13 and 19 and Wind them, one upon the other, around the drum, as more clearly shown in F ig, 2 of the drawings.

To prevent the liability ofthe operating mechanism and the connecting ropes or straps from being broken by the accidental obstruction of the gates as the platform passes them, I preferably connect one end of the windingrope 8 with one of the bars of the gate 6 through a detachable block 24 and block-retaining screws 25 in such a manner that said block and rope will be retained in connection with the gate with sufficient rigidity to operate the same under normal conditions; but when the resistance to the gate is such as to exceed a certain predetermined strain upon the retaining-screws 25 and the operating mechanism of the gate, whereby the liability of breaking such parts when the gates are accidentally obstructed is avoided.

I have so formed the bearing-surface of my actuating-cam 14 that the pitch at the point of contact with the roller of the gateactuating mechanism is very slight and is increased gradually from its respective ends toward the center, whereby the movement of the gateactuating mechanism at starting will be comparatively slow and gradual and will be accelerated as the inertia of the gate and other moving parts connected therewith is overcome.

While I have shown the free end of the strap 19 connected with the shaft 16 through an intermediate bar 18, it is obvious that said bar 18 may be dispensed with and the end of the strap connected directly with the shaft 16 or the end of the bar 17.

While I have shown the gate-actuating mechanism connected with two separate gates, it is obvious that my device is equally adapted to be used with either a single gate or an additional number of gates, as circumstances may require.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an elevator of thedescribed class, the combination of a two-way cam carried by the platform; a cam-actuated bearing located at each of the several landings of the elevatorshaft; a revoluble drum; a flexible connection connected at one end with said cam actuated bearing and having its other end secured at a fixed point to said drum and adapted to be wound upon and unwound from said drum; a revoluble pulleyconnected and adapted to revolve with said drum; one or more verticallymoving gates slidably supported in suitable guideways at each of the several landings of the elevator-shaft and flexible connections communicating between said pulley and said gates.

2. In an elevator of the described class, the

combination of a two-way cam carried by the platform; a cam-actuated bearing located at each of the several landings of the elevatorshaft; a revoluble drum; a strap connected at one end with said cam-actuated bearing and havin its other end secured at a fixed point to sai drum and adapted to be wound upon and unwound from said drum a revoluble pulley connected to and adapted to revolve with said drum; one or more vertically-moving gates slidably supported in suitable guideways at each of the several landings of the elevator; flexible connections communicating between said pulley and said gates; weights and straps connected with said drum, beneath said first-named straps at each of the respective landings of the elevatoreshaft, said weights being adapted to counterbalance a portion of the weight of the gates connected therewith at each of the respective landings, substantially as set forth.

3. In an elevator of the described class, the combination of a two-way cam carried by the platform; a cam-actuated roller a roller-sup' ley and said gates; a counterweight, a strap for suspending said counterweight, connected at one end to said weight, and at the other end, to said drum beneath said first-named strap, substantially as set forth.

4. In an elevator of the described class, the combination of a two-way cam carried by the v platform; a cam-actuated roller; a roller-supporting shaft; a shaft-supporting vibratory arm located at each of the respective landings of the elevator-shaft; a drum; a pulley and a supportingshaft revolubly supported in suitable bearings at each of the respective landings of the elevator; a strap connected at one end with said drum and at its other end With the shaft of said roller-bearing; one or more gates slidably supported in suitable bearin s at each of the respective landings; a flexib e connection communicating between said pulley and said gates; a counterweight also suitably suspended by flexible bearings from said drum and adapted to partially counterbalance the weight of said gates, and an additional counterweight suspended by a flexible connection from the shaft of said roller-bearing upon the opposite end from that of the bearing, said flexible connection being centrally supported upon a pulley, whereby as said roller-bearing is actuated by said cam said weight will cooperate therewith to laterally move the same, substantially as set forth.

5. In an elevator of the class described, the means for temporarily connecting the gateactuating rope with the gate, consisting in the combination with the rope and gate, of a wooden block and one or more block-retaining screws, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I aiiiX my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

PHILIP F. BLIM.

Witnesses:

v Ms. B. ERWIN,

C. E. SIMPSON. 

